I wish all the Dames and Knights of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta my best wishes for a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year, a year which will be distinguished by a coherent Christian testimony in all situations.

With simple and profound words the Holy Father Benedict XVI recalled that at Christmas the Word of God became flesh (Jn 1:14), “and turned into a force that moves history, taking the mortal guise of an infant; a good God who must not be confused with any sublime and remote being, whom it would never be possible to reach, but a God who made himself our neighbour and who is very close to us, who has time for each one of us and who came to stay with us”.

May each of us, in the coming festivities, experience something of this extraordinary divine condescension. It will be the most authentic way to ‘do Christmas’.